


Steve in Reasonableland (aka The First Avenger)

by Kizmet



Series: What If [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Not Steve Friendly, Not Unreasonable Authority, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-13 12:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14748746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kizmet/pseuds/Kizmet
Summary: Someone has unleashed a horde of good (er-possibly OVER) communication fairies on the MCU.  Pepper’s convinced that someone’s dosing Tony’s shot glass with a revolutionary new truth serum (because Sodium Pentothal would only make him babble more than he already does). And Steve doesn’t know what happened but even before the serum people were suddenly talking to him (not that he likes what they’re saying but it’s better than being summarily dismissed).However the Powers that Be are NOT going to stand for this.  If they have to drop an asteroid on Nick Fury’s dog to keep the plot on track THEY WILL DO IT (They’re not sure how the asteroid will help, but gosh-darn, they’re willing)!  Whatever it takes, no matter what.  Communication will NOT be allowed to get in the way of explosions and action scenes!!!To keep things vaguely orderly I’m restructuring as a series with each movie being its own story and each chapter is a scene, possibly (if necessary) followed by a TPTB induced course correction.





	1. Someone Explained Clearly why Doctors kept putting 4F on Steve's Enlistment Form

**Author's Note:**

> Because Steve enlisting multiple times is NOT the same as an actor going to multiple auditions with different directors.

Not for the first time, Steve stood in front of a doctor at an enlistment center, his less than impressive physique on display. “Rogers. What did your father die of?” the doctor asked barely glancing up from the frankly alarming medical history in front of him.

“Mustard gas. He was in the hundred and seventh infantry. I was hoping I could be assigned…”

Discharge from both ears, Asthma, Scarlet Fever, Rheumatic Fever, Sinusitis, Chronic colds, high blood pressure, palpitations of the heart, easily fatigued, heart trouble, household contact with tuberculous, family history of diabetes… _‘It’s a wonder walking across town didn’t kill this kid,’_ the Doctor found himself thinking as he asked, “Your mother?”

“She was a nurse in a TB ward. Got hit, couldn’t shake it.”

The kid sounded determined, earnest but really there was only one morally responsible answer. “Sorry, son.”

“Look, just give me a chance,” the kid pled.

“You’d be ineligible on your asthma alone,” the doctor pointed out.

“Is there anything you can do?”

The doctor was about to give a canned response and send the kid on his way.  There were at least twenty more physically fit candidates in the waiting room at the moment but the unfettered determination in the kid’s eyes gave the doctor pause. He could see that this kid wasn’t going to accept being reduced to a two digit code. Despite his laundry list of medical issues and obvious unfitness this Rogers wasn’t going through the formality of being turned down just to be able to say he’d done everything he could, he actually believed that someone might approve him.

The doctor gestured for Rogers, to step into his office. He turned the enlistment form around and handed it back to Rogers. “What do you think I could do for you other than put 4F on your papers?”

Rogers gave him an earnest, pleading look. “Give me a chance! Please, there’s more to me than just a bunch of health problems.”

“I’m sure there is but I’m not here to make a judgement call about your spirit or your gumption. I’m not looking for some ineffable quality that makes a good soldier, I have a standardized guideline. I have a set of questions I need to check: Healthy lungs. Healthy heart. No musculoskeletal issues that would hinder a person in keeping pace on a hard march with a fully loaded pack. You ask me to give you a chance, to do something for you, but look at what you wrote on this page and tell me how I can write anything but 4F on this form without lying. Are you asking me to lie for you Mr. Rogers?”

“No, of course not.” The kid flushed guiltily. “But I can help, really I can.”

“Not as a soldier you can’t. Not only would I be lying if I said you were physically fit, I would be morally deficient,” the doctor stated. “Even if I ignore that I would be sending you to your death-”

“There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them!” Rogers protested.

“You may be willing to lay down your life but just looking at you I can tell you that you won’t be able to keep pace in a march. The average weight of the equipment a rifleman is expected to carry is approximately eighty pounds, YOU barely weight a hundred. Even if you were healthy how long do you think you could carry practically your own weight in gear and still be ready to fight when needed?” The doctor shook his head. “And that’s assuming you made it to Europe in the first place. Given your plethora of lung issues, I would expect pneumonia to set in before you’d crossed the Atlantic,” the doctor replied sharply. “You wouldn’t be laying down your life to fight this war, you’d die of the common conditions on the transport ships and in the trenches.”

The Doctor held up a hand for silence when Rogers opened his mouth to protest.

“What’s more! Your mother worked in a tuberculous ward, she caught it from her patients and you were living with her at the time, you were exposed to her just like she was exposed to her patients. There’s a good chance that you’re a carrier, assuming that you aren’t symptomatic right now; a chest X-Ray is hardly going to tell me anything given everything ELSE wrong with your lungs. Put you in close quarters? The whole troop carrier could turn into a plague ship. You may have heart and will Mr. Rogers but tell me: Have you ever been able to will your coughs away? Can you just decide that your heart will beat steadily? If so why haven’t you done that already?”


	2. Erskine Asked One More Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically this is moving Steve’s conversation with Bucky about collecting scrap metal or working in a factory to his meeting with Erskine. What if Erskine asked Steve more than one question before coming to the conclusion that he was a good man and the right man to entrust with the formula.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This weeks writing ended up being a bunch of short stuff that I've been trying and failing to cobble together into a longer plot for awhile now.
> 
> So, Erskine settled in Queens… I have to wonder if he was married or anything, as in: Does he have a great grandson named Peter Parker.

The enlistment office at the Expo was several steps up from what Steve was used to. For example the doctor’s exam actually took place in private room instead of in a hall with a couple dozen other guys looking on. It made Steve nervous. And so did the way the doctor was looking at him as he said, “Wait here.”

“Is there a problem?” Steve asked.

“Just wait here,” the doctor reiterated.

Steve’s eyes were drawn irresistibly toward the sign on the wall warning: “It is illegal to falsify your enlistment form” and his guilty conscious got the better of him. Hurriedly he started pulling his shoes back on.  He was just a few seconds away from slipping out before he got caught when an MP walked in and, in that moment, Steve knew his life was over: He was going to jail.  Then an older, scholarly-looking man stepped in. “Thank you,” he said dismissing the MP. Then he turned to Steve. “So, you want to go overseas. Kill some Nazis?” he asked in a thick German accent.

“Excuse me?” Steve asked, startled.

“Dr. Abraham Erskine,” the man introduced himself. “I represent the Strategic Scientific Reserve.”

“Steve Rogers.”

Dr. Erskine started thumbing through Steve’s file.

 “Where are you from?” Steve asked.

 “Queens. 73rd Street and Utopia Parkway. Before that, Germany.” Erskine shot a piercing look at Steve. “This troubles you?”

“No,” Steve said firmly. It surprised him but, honestly, it didn’t bother him.

“Where are you from, Mr. Rogers? Mmm?” Dr. Erskine asked pointedly. “Is it New Haven? Or Paramus? Five exams in five different cities.”

“That might not be the right file,” Steve said hoping to be believed even though both his mother and Bucky had always insisted that he was a terrible liar.

“No, it’s not the exams I’m interested in. It’s the five tries,” Dr. Erskine assured him. “But you didn’t answer my question. Do you want to kill Nazis?”

“Is this a test?” Steve demanded.

“Yes,” Erskine admitted.

“I don’t wanna kill anyone.” Steve had never really thought about the fact that, if he actually managed to become a soldier, he’d expected to kill people. But if Bucky could do it… “I don’t like bullies. I don’t care where they’re from.”

Dr. Erskine nodded, his eyes warmed slightly. “Why are you so determined to fight? There are other important jobs.”

“What am I gonna do?” Steve asked. “Collect scrap metal…”

 “Ships, tanks, helmets, they all require metal and that is not easy to come by these days.”

“…in my little red wagon,” Steve finished in disgust.

 “No,” Eskrine said softly. “You are not a child. But while you might have been turned away for a factory job before the war, now they are desperate for bodies to fill the spaces left empty. You could prove they were wrong to turn you down before.”

“I’m not gonna sit in a factory,” Steve stated.

“With your medical history some would say that you would do our troops more good there,” Erskine said noncommittally.

 “There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them,” Steve exclaimed. “That’s what no one understands. This isn’t about me.”

Erskine closed the folder with a disappointed expression. “No, Mr. Rogers, what I see is that this is very much about you. About your need to prove yourself.

“If you’d truly been determined to help, to do your part to win this war… Perhaps you would still have attempted to enlist so very many times but- But if it were truly not about you, you would already have a factory job, or a wagon full of scrap metal. If it were truly not about you, you would be looking for whatever you could do to support those men over in Europe laying their lives down. Instead you are wasting your time and mine repeatedly trying to become a soldier so that YOU can feel important.” He sighed. “I had hoped… But now I see. I am sorry Mr. Rogers, but you are not what I am looking for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two thoughts on how I might continue this: 
> 
> Either I continue with random scenes where additional communication happens between MCU characters (Moving away from just picking on Steve to include other characters because poor communication skills are epidemic in the MCU)... 
> 
> Or I go on picking on Steve, aka Steve continues to follow the script but the other people around him act reasonable… With occasional chapters where “Blatant Plot Protection Ensues” in which Random StuffTM happens to enable the plot to stay on track despite people behaving reasonably. For example, even though Erskine has just realized that Steve isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread and sent him packing Steve still needs to get the Serum to keep the plot on track... So next chapter would forcibly drag the plot back on track.
> 
> Let me know which sounds more interesting.


	3. Blatant Plot Protection Ensues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And Steve gets the serum anyway, because the plot demands it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the plan was to do a couple for non-Steve ones from other movies and post them as a group at the end of the week with the new structure I'd decided on but today there was a large influx of Team!Cap trolls plus a couple of polite busybodies telling me what I should and shouldn't write...
> 
> So! If I had something LESS Steve Friendly that I could have ready to post tonight I would have.

Steve was on his way to yet another enlistment center. Several of the doctors that Steve had spoken with earlier had made good points about the need for support personnel but nobody respected the guy who stayed home and assembled guns, just the guys who charged the enemy while firing them. _‘And that stuff about my limitations is nonsense,’_ Steve assured himself. _‘I mean doctors have been saying I should be dead as long as I can remember, what do they know anyway?’_

Suddenly a man ran out of the building in front of Steve as if it were on fire. Curious, Steve peered inside, hoping to see what all the fuss was about, and ran into Howard Stark. The impact knocked Steve on his ass and right into a dusty old tarp. “Well there goes another one,” Stark sighed. Then his eyes lit on Steve and he offered him a hand up. “Hey kid, wanna serve your country and make a fast buck?” he asked as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a fat wallet.

It was more money than Steve had ever seen at one time before in his life but he barely registered it as Howard shoved the wad of cash at him. “Serve my country? Do I ever!” Steve exclaimed, sucking in a massive breath of dust filled air. “I was just on my way to enlist.” Steve could feel his throat constricting but this was his chance. He stuck out his hand. “Steve Rogers, from,” he drew paused to gasp for air. “-Ohio.”

“Enlist huh?” Howard looked Steve up and down and grinned, “Well, you’ll be perfect. This little test we need you for, it’ll bulk you right up, get rid of that nasty wheeze… I mean I’m not a doctor or anything, but let me get you off your feet before you collapse.” Howard started steering Steve inside.

“I just need an asthma cigarette,” Steve gasped. “I’ll be fine. Doesn’t get in the way. Really.”

Howard patted Steve down quickly locating the cigarettes and offering him a lighter. “Don’t worry, seriously, you’re perfect,” he assure Steve. “Phillips, he never was much of a showman. That Hodges guy he pushed through? So what if had worked? He’s already big, he got much bigger it’d be grotesque. You? If it works on you- Now that will be a show to get Brandt’s attention.”

Steve sighed as the smoke hit his airways, opening them up and making it a bit easier to breath even as his heart started to race and he felt a familiar confusion taking hold.

Howard was still talking. “In the interest of full disclosure, I have to tell you there may be some… Cosmetic side effects from the procedure. Erskine says it wasn’t ready the last time it was used on a human and he’s sure there won’t be any nose loss or skin peeling off this time around, as sure as he can be without testing it anyway. -But the important thing to remember is, basically, it did WORK the last time. The guy got stronger, reached the peak of human fitness like that,” Howard snapped his fingers. “Just… Cosmetic side-effects.”

Steve blinked at him, the cigarettes had made him hallucinate in the past but- _‘He didn’t really just say that the last guy’s nose fell off? Did he? I’m sure he didn’t say that. I hope the part about getting stronger wasn’t just a hallucination as well.’_

“I’m in,” Steve declared. “When do we start?”

“Right now, we’re all set up,” Howard said guiding him inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, everything back on track. Erskine might recognize Steve as the guy he turned down but they’re in the middle of the demonstration with no candidate in sight. Beggars can’t be choosers. It ends up skipping Steve’s basic training altogether and the one scene where he shows he actually can use his head (Pulling the pin on the flagpole, not the grenade scene. I like the bit on “Attack on Titans” where the one recruit who joins the military in hopes of dying heroically, thus proving to her family that she is NOT just a liability… And her getting called on her over-willingness to sacrifice her life. She wants to die a hero so badly that she’s a detriment to the wellbeing of her fellow recruits. Steve strikes me as being the same: The sooner he can find a way of dying heroically the less likely his body is to fail him and he knows it). 
> 
> What I found when I looked up ‘asthma cigarettes’: They're not quite as much of an oxymoron as they sound like when you here those two words put together. They didn’t contain nicotine, the active ingredients were usually something related to the nightshade family. Nightshades contain atropine - a drug which, importantly in asthma treatment, causes dilation of the small airways in the lungs and relief of symptoms. However it also causes dilated pupils, a rapid heart rate, nausea, confusion, dry mouth and hallucinations.


	4. Steve Knew More about Brandt’s ‘Battlefield’ Upfront

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Phillips and Peggy are discussing Steve being MIA after she and Howard flew him to Azzano, they refer to him as ‘Captain Rogers’. So I guess Steve didn’t get a field promotion, his ‘Captaincy’ is entirely based on his stage performance.

After Erskine’s murder, after getting the spy-sub, seeing proof of HYDRA’s technological advantage, Colonel Philips declared, “We are taking the fight to Hydra. Pack your bags Agent Carter. You too, Stark. You’re flying to London tonight.”

“Sir, if you’re going after Schmidt, I want in,” Steve announced.

Colonel Phillips glanced over at the files he’d been reviewing before the experiment which contained some hastily gathered data on one Steve Rogers. “Look, obviously your former recruiting physicians’, plural, their concerns about you being unable to fulfill the physical requirements of your duties as a soldier are a thing of the past- You’re a human tank. But I have mechanical tanks. An army, hell a couple units of super soldiers would be something that could change the course of the war but I’ve got one guy and one guy is not enough. The only shot I’ve got left at getting the army I was looking for is locked up in your blood. If I put you on the battlefield, I risk losing that one shot.”

“With all due respect to the Colonel,” Senator Brandt broke in. “Without Dr. Erskine on the project, I don’t have faith that you CAN recreate the serum with nothing more than this man’s blood, certainly not in time to have an impact on the War. I think we need to recognize that he’s all we’re getting out of the resources we sank into Project Rebirth. Instead of continuing to chase El Dorado, we should be thinking about how to utilize what we’ve got in front of us.”

Brant turned to Steve, “The reels we’ve got showing before pictures, they’re not doing the job. Sure, they inspire some people to do more to help our soldiers overseas but for some the reminder of the dangers their loved ones are facing is just disheartening, people breaking into sobs in the theatres when they see the images of injured troops. And others are going to the movies for an escape, the newsreels basically annoy them. We need something new, something that inspires, convinces people we can win. Something that gets them into the seats to see OUR show, rather than forcing our message on people with potentially contradictory reasons for being there.”

Steve frowned sternly. “I just want you to know I don’t stand for that sort of disrespect.”

“And I wish everyone shared your enthusiasm but we can’t punch the folks at home into having good morale,” Brandt replied. “Armies don’t just exist, they need money and equipment to run. Europe’s production capacity is shot, if we’re going to win this war US factories are key. We need everyone at home supporting the war however they can and I think you can be a big help in that battle. I’ve seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country’s seen it. You don’t take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab.”

“I don’t want to be stuck as someone’s lab rat but morale doesn’t seem too important to me,” Steve argued.

“You were determined to be in the military Rogers, adamant,” Phillip reprimanded him. “But you don’t seem to grasp what military service is about. Contrary to your possible expectations, an army is not a bunch of guys running around, doing whatever they think best, based on their limited perspective. There is a chain of command… and I outrank you. If you’d made into the army under normal circumstances and I’d decided that I needed a supply sergeant, you do not come whining to me about how you want a front line assignment, you do the job I assign you to the best of your abilities. I am here to win a war, not to enable your personal search for fulfillment."

"I'm certain I could make a difference fighting in Europe.  My father was in the hundred and seventh infantry during the last war and my best friend's with them now. I was hoping I could be assigned…"

“You are reminding me of my kids, Rogers," Phillips snapped.  "And not in a good way: ‘But Da-a-ad, we don’t want to go to bed yet.’ Now I love my kids, a hell of a lot more than I love you, and it did not fly for them, so why, in God’s name, do you think it is going to fly for you? Now, I admit, you are a special snowflake. There’s only one of you, so Senator Brandt and I have a bird in the hand versus two in the bush situation. I put you in a lab, maybe I get that army I’m after, maybe I get nothing. He puts you on stage,” Phillips smacked the newspaper recounting Steve’s heroics on the table, “And it looks like a pretty sure bet we can drum up funding and some positive energy using you. But there is no way of knowing which route will ultimately do the most for the war effort so I am giving you the unusual opportunity, in this man’s army, of casting the deciding vote-”

“Now wait a moment,” Brandt said holding up a hand. “It’s going to take a little planning before my show’s ready. Your boys at Alamogordo could have him for a few weeks to collect their initial data and we could keep supplying them with blood samples even while the show was on the road. If they made a breakthrough? Well my guys could work it into the script to explain his absence.”

Colonel Phillips nodded thoughtfully, “You’re right, that satisfies both of us. Rogers, pack your bags. The Senator’s men will give you your schedule.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was tempting to have Steve argue that he should go to Europe with Howard because Howard worked most closely Erskine and if Steve sticks with him Howard could continue Erskine’s work. I think Howard would have jumped at the chance and it would have gotten Steve to Europe without the dancing monkey routine… Then Steve gets to the present and doesn’t have same degree of fame ;-) but I’m trying to avoid bad communication as a plot device without completely derailing the plot… (Even if Steve getting what he wanted back then could have spared everyone a lot of fuss later.) 
> 
> So instead of making an uninformed choice Steve gets no choice at all about his posting.


	5. Steve Elucidates his Rescue Plan to the Prisoners at Azzano

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve deciding to go to Azzano seems like it would have been a good scene for this game, but... Col. Phillips: “They’re thirty miles behind the lines. Through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We’d lose more men than we’d save. But I don’t expect you to understand that, because you’re a chorus girl.” Phillips could have been more considerate of Steve’s feelings and left off the last sentence but he did explain exactly why no one was rushing to Bucky’s (and the other guys’) rescue.
> 
> As for demonstrating Steve’s tactical brilliance: His plan was start walking toward Azzano and hope something came along to get him there. It’s _Peggy_ who knew that Howard was a pilot and who recruited him for Steve’s mission. Sharon really is carrying on a family tradition of enabling Steve.

The first the they saw from inside the cages was the prop-shield. “Who are you supposed to be?” Gabe couldn’t help himself from asking.

“I’m… Captain America. Well, actually Steve Rogers but no one’s ever paid any attention to him, so let’s go with Captain America.”

“I beg your pardon?” Falsworth sounded affronted. “You Americans showed up late to the party and now you’re… Honestly I don’t know what your superiors were thinking but I won’t turn down an open door.”

Dum Dum sneered at a Japanese prisoner as he joined the escape, “What, are we taking everybody?”

“I’m from Fresno, Ace,” Morita snapped, showing his dog tags. “Or did you not notice which side of the bars I was on.”

“Is there anybody else? I’m looking for a Sergeant James Barnes,” Steve asked. “I mean he’s the whole reason this escape is happening. We’re, well, I’m not leaving without him. The rest of you just happened to be here, so count your lucky stars.”

“It’s pretty obvious you’re not going to be much help to us until you get what you came for,” Falsworth said. “There’s an isolation ward in the factory but no one’s ever come back from it, before you run off after your guy, do you have any sort of plan for getting us out of here?” 

“The tree line is northwest, eighty yards past the gate. I really didn’t think spare a passing thought to getting out with a whole crowd of POW’s, I didn’t even really think through getting Bucky out of here. I mean, even assuming that I could find a spot where Howard could land his plane without getting shot down it won’t fit even a quarter of you. You’re going to have to manage most of the escape on your own. Get out fast and give ‘em hell, that’s the best plan I can come up with on the spur of the moment, but it sounds good and I’ve really gotta go find Bucky, you understand right? I’ll meet you guys in the clearing with Bucky… And anybody else I find.”

“Wait!” Gabe called. “You know what you’re doin’? Cause it sure as hell don’t sound that way.”

“Honestly?” Steve asked. “No, no I don’t. I got a couple weeks of basic training, other than that? I’m not a soldier but I play one on stage. Still I got you out of that cage didn’t I? So could you guys take care of the rest of this escape thing? I was out of ideas before I started and Peggy’s back with Howard,” Steve gritted his teeth, “on that plane I mentioned. I can’t exactly ask her for any more suggestions.”

“I’m not going back and waiting for someone else to come along,” Dum Dum decided. “So give ‘em hell it is.”

“Not much of a choice really,” Morita agreed. “We’ll just have to make this work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then the future Howlies manage to capture a bunch of HYDRA’s nifty-cool weapons, which enables a couple hundred mistreated POW’s to waltz through ‘the most heavily fortified territory in Europe’. We’ll just ignore that those same weapons in HYDRA’s hands couldn’t stop them from being overwhelmed by their unarmed prisoners. Suspension meet disbelief, I hope you’ll have a long and happy marriage.


	6. Peggy didn’t have a Tsundere Moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tsundere is a character (almost always a girl) who is generally sweet and mannerly but turns into a violent maniac when interacting with their love interest.

Peggy walked in to the lobby to collect Steve and found him being kissed by the WAC manning the desk. “Private Lorraine, you’re a walking advertisement for the worst rumors about women in service,” she scolded the other woman sternly. “And Captain Rogers, I thought we had an agreement to wait until after the war since it would be unprofessional given our current working relationship. By the way, we’re ready for you.” 

“Agent Carter, wait!” Steve exclaimed as Peggy turned and started walking away.

“Looks like finding a partner wasn’t that hard after all,” Peggy sniffed as they entered Howard’s lab.

“Seriously, wait one second there,” Steve protested. “She kissed me, I didn’t kiss her. Just because women are suddenly interested doesn’t mean I’ve got any more of a clue as to how to talk to them. In fact, I have less experience in telling a dame I’m not interested, especially seeing as how I was trying to be polite about it, than I’ve got in trying to talk ‘em up. At least with the later I’ve got years of watching Bucky do it to fall back on. And we had an understanding? I didn’t understand! Peggy, I thought you and Howard… I mean ‘fonduing’?”

“Fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend,” Howard laughed.

“Really?” Steve asked, startled. “I didn’t think…”

Peggy eyed both Steve and Howard irritably. “Howard’s got so many notches on his bedpost that he had to buy a second bed, I’m thoroughly insulted that you would even think that I’d consent to being another one,” she huffed. 

Howard grinned, shrugged and didn’t deny it.

“Could we talk a little more about this ‘understanding’?” Steve asked. “Cause I sort of like the sound of it and I’d like to actually understand.”

“Later love-birds,” Howard interrupted. “We’ve got work to do, remember? Making sure you and your men do not get killed, that sort of thing?” He picked up a piece of cloth lying on the table. “This is a carbon polymer. Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although Hydra’s not going to attack you with a pocket knife.” Then he nodded toward Steve’s prop-shield. “I hear you’re uh… kinda attached?”

“It’s handier than you might think,” Steve said.

“I took the liberty of coming up with some options,” Howard replied directing his attention to an array of shields. “This one’s fun. She’s been fitted with electrical relays. It’ll allow you to…”

“What about this one?” Steve asked, grabbing a round silver shield that he found aesthetically pleasing. It reminded him of the trash can lids he’d used while losing fights all over Brooklyn.

“No! No! That’s just a prototype,” Howard protested.

Not being given the shield right off the bat only made Steve want it more. “What’s it made of?”

“Vibranium. It’s stronger than steel and a third of the weight. It’s completely vibration absorbent,” Howard extolled.

“That sounds really swell. How come it’s not a standard issue?”

“That’s the rarest metal on earth,” Howard explained. “What you’re holding there? That’s all we’ve got. It’s worth a fortune, even to me.”

“It’s just lying around your lab collecting dust,” Steve argued. “It’s one of a kind, I’m one of a kind, I should have it.”

“Who knows what this could be used to accomplish if the material’s properties are properly researched,” Howard objected.

Steve stared at the shield longingly. 

“Fine. Whatever. Take it,” Howard sighed. “I’m going to have to learn to say no to puppy-eyes before having kids.”

**And there is no shooting of guns in the name of Peggy working out her aggravation over the kiss.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howard had a selection of shields for Steve to pick from, the Vibranium one wasn’t on the list but what Steve wants he gets.


	7. Aftermath

Colonel Phillips addressed the assembled Howling Commandos, “Johann Schmidt belongs in a bug house. He thinks he’s a God. He’s willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA.” 

Then Howard stepped up to give the weight of his technical expertise to the threat, “Schmidt’s working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in an hour.”

“How much time we got?” Gabe asked.

“According to my new best friend, under twenty four hours,” Phillips replied, referencing Zola’s new attitude of cooperation.

“Where is he now?” Dernier asked.

Phillips pointed to an aerial surveillance photo, “Hydra’s last base is here. In the Alps. Five hundred feet below the surface.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Morita asked. “I mean, it’s not like we can just knock on the front door.”

“Why not?” Steve said. “That’s exactly what we’re gonna do.”

A number of the Howlies snickered and Dum Dum patted Steve on the head fondly. “Okay, Colonel, what are we really going to do?” he asked.

“Well, since you’re volunteering, Rogers,” Phillips grinned. “You can knock on their front door and while they’re trying to figure out if you’re crazy or just that arrogant they won’t be watching the rest of us. Still, this is going to be hairy and for once we are basically following Rogers' plan: Charge straight in, improvise when you get there. And I’m praying that you make it home safe but if we don’t do this it’s the folks at home who’ll be hit.”

“You won’t recite “Charge of the Light Brigade” for us?” Falsworth asked.

“Best of luck. Give ‘em hell,” Phillips said.

Dernier held back while the others filed out, “Is it really a good idea, sending Stevie out right now?” he asked Phillips. “Because I’ve been getting the feel that he’s just looking for an opportunity to rush after Barnes again, if you know what I mean.”

“I know,” Phillips admitted. He shrugged, “We need him. He’s a human tank, one I can drop from a plane and given HYDRA’s fondness for mountain bases, that’s been invaluable. The SSR’s primary mission is to keep HYDRA in check, keep them from tilting the balance in Germany’s favor and we’ve done that. We’ve been lucky: They had Zola, we have Stark. They’ve got Schmidt, we have Rogers. As long as Rogers takes Schmidt along with him… I’m not in a position to care.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sure Steve came up with the details of the plan to get into the HYDRA base… After his “I’ll keep enlisting until someone agrees to overlook my plethora of health issues” plan and his “If I have to walk to Azzano I’ll walk… Wait, Peggy, what do you mean you’ve got a better idea” plan. and his “Give ‘em hell” plan for getting the POWs out of Azzano.


End file.
